Thursday, September 5, 2019

There is a buzz on the internet, about the Wasp Network, a film about the Cuban spy ring implicated in the Brothers to the Rescue shoot down. No one that we know has seen the movie, but there is already calls for a boycott on social media.

Whether one wishes to boycott the movie or not is a personal decision. However, we do believe that it is important to set the record straight.

The film's director Olivier Assayas in a press conference for the movie made a blanket statement about the Cuban exile community that was slanderous. Gael García Bernal at the same press conference made the false claim that "they were not going somewhere else to kill someone ... they are spies that are trying to stop violence ... there is something unique about the real story that highlights the act of love that made them do this." He also claimed that they "were proven innocent." They weren't.

Alejandro Alonso, Linda Hernandez, Nilo Hernandez Mederos pled guilty and were all sentenced to seven years in prison. Joseph Santos Cecilia pled guilty and got four years in prison and Amarylis Silverio Garcia de Santos pled guilty and was sentenced three and a half years in prison.

They are unpersons in Cuba. The remaining five
spies, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, and René González, who had refused to cooperate with U.S. authorities or plead
guilty went on trial and the evidence against them was overwhelming. Gerardo Hernández was found guilty of espionage and murder conspiracy and sentenced two life terms to be served consecutively; life for Antonio Guerrero and Ramón Labañino; 19 years for Fernando González; and 15 years for René González.

Their primary
objective was "penetrating and obtaining information on the naval
station located in that city." They communicated about "burning down the warehouse" and sabotaging Brothers to the Rescue equipment. They had been instructed to identify who would be flying aboard the Brothers to the Rescue planes at certain times.

Mr. García Bernal speaks of a radical act of love, but fails to mention it because he was not looking at what Brothers to the Rescue were doing.

In February of 1991 news accounts of the death by dehydration
of
15-year-old Gregorio Perez Ricardo, a rafter fleeing Cuba, as U.S. Coast
Guard officials tried to save his life shocked the moral imagination of
several pilots.

This was not an isolated event. Academics Holly
Ackerman and Juan Clark, in the 1995 monograph The
Cuban Balseros: Voyage of Uncertainty
reported that “as many as 100,000 Cuban rafters may have perished
trying to leave Cuba.” Anecdotal evidence documents that some of them
were victims of the Cuban border patrol using
sand bags and snipers against defenseless rafters.

On February 8, 1996 The
Miami Times reported “that this
group has come around to the belief that change can be brought about in
Cuba in the same way that it was brought about by Dr. King in the
United States.”

The Miami Times concluded in the
editorial “Spreading King’s Message” that “in throwing Dr. King's principle into the volatile mix of Cuban exile
politics, Brothers to the Rescue is showing a willingness to be creative.”

They risked their lives in the Florida Straits to rescue Cuban rafters and at the same time Brothers
to the Rescue challenged the
Cuban exile community to abandon both the failed violent resistance and
appeasement approaches in order to embrace strategic
nonviolence. This
path followed the way of Martin Luther King Jr. with both civil
disobedience and a constructive program. What was the end result?
Brothers to the Rescue saved more than 4,200 men, women, and children
ranging from a five-day old infant to a 79 year old man, and rescued
thousands more during the 1994 refugee crisis.

The events surrounding the February
24, 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shoot down
began weeks in advance with the dictatorship planning out the shoot down
and using its spy networks to obtain information to carry out this act
of state terrorism while blaming the victims in the media coverage.

On February 24, 1996 at 3:21pm and 3:27pm two Brothers to the Rescue planes were shot down by two Cuban MiGs
over international airspace killing four. Two more MIG’s chased a third plane to within three minutes of downtown
Key West, but that plane made it back and provided critical information on what had occurred.Within moments of the shootdown,allegations were immediately generated that Brothers to the Rescue had involved itself in
"paramilitary activities against the government of the Republic of
Cuba." Juan Pablo Roque, who had defected the day before, and
arrived in Cuba through Mexico, claimed that they had been planning to introduce
anti-personnel weapons to blow up high-tension plants. This cover story collapsed when the third plane returned to Key West.

Martyred on February 24, 1996

The four men who were killed represented all aspects of the Cuban diaspora: Armando
Alejandre Jr, a child who arrived with his parents from Cuba in 1960, Carlos Costa,
born in Miami Beach in 1966 and Mario Manuel de la Peña, born in New Jersey in 1971 the children of Cuban
exiles. Pablo Morales
was born in Cuba in 1966, raised there and was saved by Brothers to the
Rescue when he
was 26 years old while fleeing the island on a raft. Two were from
Havana, one was from New Jersey and the other from Miami Beach.

The Brothers to the Rescue shoot down case in the U.S. courts

U.S.
courts found the Cuban government guilty of premeditation in the
February 24, 1996 shoot down. Family members of the four men have over
the past twenty years pursued and continue
to pursue justice. They have had concrete results.

On November 14, 1997 U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King found
Cuba guilty in civil court of
planning the shoot down before the actual attack, and noted that there
had been ample time to issue warnings to the Brothers to the Rescue
aircraft if these had been needed.

A jury in criminal court presided by U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard on June 10, 2001 found Cuban spy Gerardo Hernandez guilty
of conspiracy to commit murder because of his role in providing information to the Cuban government on the flight plans of Brothers to the Rescue.

On August 21, 2003 a U.S. grand jury indicted the two
fighter pilots and their commanding general on murder charges for the 1996 shoot down. Indictments
were returned against General Ruben Martinez Puente, who at the time
headed the Cuban Air Force, and fighter pilots Lorenzo
Alberto Perez-Perez and Francisco Perez-Perez. The defendants were
charged with four counts of murder, one count of conspiracy to kill U.S.
nationals and two counts of destruction of aircraft. They are still at
large.

There
has been a lack of political will on behalf of several White Houses to
pursue justice in the premeditated, extrajudicial murders of these four
men.

The Obama administration commuted
the double life sentence of
Gerardo Hernandez, the one man actually imprisoned for conspiracy to
commit murder in the Brothers to the Rescue shoot down on December 17,
2014 setting him free and returning him to Cuba.

Nevertheless,the families of Armando, Mario, Carlos and Pablo continue their struggle for memory, truth, and justice on behalf of their
loved ones. This means “the indictments of the military officials involved, from Raul Castro, Minister of
the Armed Forces, down the military chain of command” and documenting what happened.

The excerpts of the press conference released on the internet make a travesty of this episode, and raises concerns among many that the movie will demonize those who saved thousands of lives while celebrating those who conspired successfully to murder four humanitarians and deal a powerful blow against a nonviolent movement.

What
was broken up
in South Florida on September 12, 1998 was a terror spy network with
plans to damage property
and kill persons with the objective of planting terror. The network
achieved part of their objective in providing information that led to
four extrajudicial killings.

George Orwell could have cited the so-called "Cuban Five" campaign and the press conference for the Wasp Network as examples of newspeak on the order
of "War is Peace" only that it in this case it declares "Terrorism is
Anti-Terrorism" "Lies are Truth", "Terrorists are Heroes", and "cold blooded murder is a radical act of love."

The vigil commenced with Reverend Mario Feliz Lleonart leading the vigil participants in a prayer for justice and concluded 25 minutes later with another prayer.

We gathered at 8:00pm and were joined by others until 8:30pm and a short time later began the 25 minute silent vigil. While we waited to start passersby asked us about the posters we carried and why we were in front of the Cuban embassy.

We explained to them that on July 13, 1994, a group of 72 Cubans, including children and women, tried to escape from the Island of Cuba aboard an old tugboat. State Security Forces, and four Cuban State boats of the Havana regime intercepted the boat 7 miles off the coast of Cuba, with water jets from pressure hoses pulled people off the deck, tore the children from the arms of their mothers and sank the tugboat. 37 people were murdered, 11 of them children.

Finally, we invite those in the South Florida area on Saturday, July 13, 2019 to the Museum of the Cuban Diaspora located at 1200 Coral Way where Jorge Garcia, who lost 14 family members in the "13 de marzo" tugboat massacre will give a presentation of an edition of his book on the subject that has now been translated to English. Ramon Saul Sanchez and Marcel Felipe are co-hosting the event.

Saturday, June 29, 2019

Human rights and civil society organizations are calling for a silent demonstration in remembrance of the victims of the "13 de Marzo"Tugboat, who were murdered by the Castro regime on July 13, 1994.

Human rights activists, members of international civil society and Cuban exiles will gather in front of the Embassy of Cuba located at 2630 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20009 to hold a 25 minute vigil of silence for the 25 years that the crime has remained unpunished.

On July 13, 1994, a group of 72 Cubans, including children and women, tried to escape from the Island of Cuba aboard an old tugboat. State Security Forces, and four Cuban State boats of the Havana regime intercepted the boat 7 miles off the coast of Cuba, with water jets from pressure hoses pulled people off the deck, tore the children from the arms of their mothers and sank the tugboat. 37 people were murdered, 11 of them children.

Despite the fact that the UN Commission on Human Rights, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and other international organizations issued reports documenting the crime, despite the fact that the survivors and relatives of the victims requested an independent investigation of the facts, and that the bodies of the deceased be recovered from the sea, nothing happened. Those who gave the order of the sinking and those who carried it out still remain without being held accountable. The crime remains unpunished.

Monday, June 3, 2019

What happened?
Thirty years ago today the Communistleadership of China opened fire on the Chinese people. The Pro-Democracy Movement that had taken to the streets
in April of 1989 was violently crushed by the Chinese communist
dictatorship beginning on the evening of June 3, 1989.

How many were killed?
By dawn on June
4, 1989 scores of demonstrators had been shot and killed
or run over and crushed by tanks of the so-called People's Liberation
Army. and the blood of students and workers splattered and flowed in the
streets of Beijing.

The Chinese Red Cross had initially counted 2,600 dead when they were pressured to stop by Chinese officials and silenced
on this matter. Following the massacre an additional 1,000 were
sentenced to death and executed. Scores of Chinese who participated in
the Tiananmen protests would spend years and decades in prison.

A 2017 declassified British diplomatic cable revealed that
"at least 10,000 people were killed in the Chinese army's crackdown on
pro-democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in June 1989."

How Henry Kissinger's downplayed the Beijing Massacre in the United StatesFormer
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger persuaded the Bush Administration in
the immediate aftermath to downplay the human rights considerations
surrounding the Beijing Massacre and to focus on the economic and
strategic relationship. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) published a October 1, 1989 article
revealing Kissinger's direct business ties to Communist China and his
defense of the regime and justification of the massacre. FAIR reported
how on August 1, 1989 this business consultant who also heads "China
Ventures" [that engages China's state bank in joint ventures]wrote a column that appeared in a Washington Post/L.A. Times ("The Caricature of Deng as a Tyrant Is Unfair", 8/1/89). In it Kissinger argued against sanctions:

"China remains too important for
America's national security to risk the relationship on the emotions of
the moment." He asserted: "No government in the world would have
tolerated having the main square of its capital occupied for eight weeks
by tens of thousands of demonstrators."

Kissinger's reputation according to Umair Khan who reviewed his 2011 book, On China, describes him as a
man whose "reputation is based on his career as a diplomat turned
business consultant." This business relationship was not mentioned back
in 1989 by those publishing the former Secretary of State's case against
sanctions on China.

Kissinger proved wrong by events in Eastern Europe
Incidentally over the course of six weeks
in 1989 beginning on November 17, the one-party government of the
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia although engaging in acts of
repression did not commit a huge massacre against tens of thousands of
demonstrators in the main square of its capital. The demonstrations grew
to Tiananmen Square levels of 200,000 and 500,000 demonstrators in
Prague. The end result was the Velvet Revolution and 25 years of peace
and prosperity. Kissinger's argument did not hold up under the light of
events.Consequences of looking the other way
Unfortunately, the downplaying of the human rights situation in China
has had consequences over the long term. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dictum
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" has special
resonance.In 2011 Muammar Gaddafi believed that he could get away with mass murder
because the world looked the other way in June of 1989 in Beijing and
said it plainly:

"The unity of China was more important than those
people on Tiananmen Square."

Holocaust survivor and writer Elie Wiesel has denounced indifference and silence before injustice stating that: "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest."

For the next 24 hours will be sharing information over social media provided by Chinese pro-democracy activists on the events that took place 30 years ago in Beijing.

The Free Cuba Foundation since its founding recognized that being
"victims of totalitarianism we share a bond with other captive peoples
past and present who are our brothers and sisters in this struggle for
freedom."

Please share videos of documentaries on the Tiananmen Square protests, the crackdown and massacre, and the aftermath. For example, Tiananmen Mothers, a group of family members of those killed during the violent crackdown on the 1989 Democracy Movement produced a short documentary:
"Portraits of Loss and the Quest for Justice"in which the stories of
six victims are told by their family members, and two survivors provide
their own testimony. It can be viewed online here.

Both
Cubans and Tibetans looked to 1959 as an opportunity for democratic
restoration and liberation. Instead tyranny entrenched itself. The Cuban
nightmare began amidst the hope on January 1, 1959 that the departure
of Fulgencio Batista into exile would mean a democratic restoration and
an end to authoritarian tyranny instead it was the beginning of a new
totalitarian communist tyranny headed by Fidel Castro.

Free Tibet!

Tibetan's hoped that a national
uprising that erupted in Lhasa on March 10, 1959 would drive the Chinese
occupiers out of their homeland. Instead His Holiness the Dalai Lama
had to flee to India to avoid imprisonment or assassination as the
Chinese communists crushed the uprising.

Six decades later we share something in common with the year 1959: a year of dashed hopes. A terrible year, when communism came to our countries, and even worse for Tibet - it is the year Communist China's occupation was consolidated and His Holiness the Dalai Lama went into exile.

We Free Cubans remain in solidarity with Tibetans and the cause of a Free Tibet. We will stand with you. For China to get out of Tibet and for human rights and liberty to return to Tibet.

Today my thoughts and prayers are with the brave people of Tibet who
have spent decades resisting the occupation of Communist China over
their homeland. While at the same time showing their solidarity with
other captive peoples, including Cubans and for that I will be eternally
grateful and in solidarity with their freedom struggle. Today I also joined with Free Tibetans in protest to demand an end to the occupation of their homeland.

60 years ago today
a rebellion began in Tibet against the Chinese communist occupation of
their homeland. Tens of thousands were slaughtered and this tragic episode is now recognized as
Tibetan National Uprising Day. Below is
today's statement by Tibet's President.

Statement of the President of the Central Tibetan Administration on the 60th Anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day

When the People’s Liberation Army
(PLA) of China first marched into Tibet, they promised to build “One
Road” which would bring “peace and prosperity” for the Tibetan
people. However, once the Road was completed, the PLA’s tanks, guns and
more soldiers came and occupied the entire Tibetan Plateau.

Sixty years ago, on this very day in
1959, the Tibetan people rose up against the occupying Chinese army.
With their fists raised in the air, our brothers and sisters marched
together to make it clear that the Land of Snow is a Tibetan territory.
“Tibet belongs to Tibetans,” they shouted. Standing steadfast in unity,
they protected and ensured the safety of our root guru, our tsawai lama, His Holiness the Great 14th Dalai Lama.

Over the last six decades, the
government in Beijing has brutally repressed the Tibetan people, denied
us our basic rights and has consistently pursued systematic policies to
crackdown on Tibetan language, culture, unique identity, and spiritual
practices. In essence, China has deliberately aimed to eradicate Tibet’s
civilization from the face of this earth.

In this year’s annual report, Human
Rights Watch states that the Chinese authorities have used a “nationwide
anti-crime campaign to encourage people to denounce members of their
communities on the slightestsuspicion of sympathy” for His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Furthermore, crackdown on human
rights defenders has intensified in recent years. Language advocate
Tashi Wangchuk is currently serving an arbitrary five-year jail
sentence. His only crime was advocating for the Tibetan people’s
cultural and linguistic rights as enshrined in the PRC’s own
Constitution. Recently, China has also banned Tibetan children from
attending informal language classes held at their local monasteries.

As a prelude to its ambition to
control the global surveillance network, China uses Tibet as a testing
ground for high-tech surveillance methods. Using a “grid system of
social management,” the Communist Party strengthens its Orwellian
control over both the electronic and physical surveillance of Tibet.
Additionally, since 2008, road blocks and check points have increasingly
dotted all major roads in urban areas as well as in remote areas of the
Tibetan Plateau. Chinese authorities have assigned at least one officer
for every 20 Tibetans in the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).
In a dystopian world it has created, often a son is pitted against his
father, a daughter against her mother, and sibling against sibling.

Commonly known as the “Third Pole”,
the Tibetan Plateau holds the world’s largest reservoir of glaciers
apart from the two poles. Tibet, therefore, is the source of some of the
largest rivers in Asia with over one billion people depending on these
waters. Consequently, rising temperatures on the high plateau endangers
the livelihood of hundreds of millions of people in Asia and also
negatively amplifies global climate change. China’s deeply flawed
environmental policies have already turned the Tibetan Plateau into
destructive mining hubs, and the unbridled damming of rivers makes the
situation even more dangerous.

The assaults on Tibet and her people
have always been multi-pronged. Over two million Tibetans, particularly
nomads, have been forcibly removed from their ancestral land and
relocated into large-scale ghettos without any alternative opportunities
to lead a dignified and traditional life.

As a resentment to these harsh and
repressive policies, 153 Tibetans have self-immolated since 2009 with
the most recent one committed by a 23-year-old man named Dopo on
November 4, 2018. While committing self-immolation, the protestors have
called to restore freedom for Tibetans and the return of His Holiness to
Tibet.

Freedom House has listed Tibet as the
world’s second least free region for the last four consecutive years.
Likewise, Reporters Without Borders expressed “outrage over the
systematic violation of press freedom” and has stated that it is harder
for journalists to get access to Tibet than to North Korea.

My Tibetan brothers and sisters
around the world, in spite of living through the darkest period in our
history, we have stood together in unity and achieved a great many
things against all odds. Our journey over the past six decades has also
been that of hope, resilience, and resistance.

Beginning in the early 1950s in
Eastern Tibet, each of China’s tyrannical policy has been met with
resolute defiance. The Tibetan National Uprising in March 1959; brave
resistance in prisons and concentration camps in the 1960s and 1970s;
and the large-scale demonstrations in the 1980s have all shown that the
Tibetan people have consistently and collectively fought for their
rights, freedom, and justice.

In 2008, the whole world witnessed a
new generation of Tibetans in a nationwide uprising against the Chinese
occupation and ignited a spark of unwavering courage to assert for their
identity and dignity. They declared: “Our voices will not
be suppressed; our commitment will not falter.” This resolute resistance
continues.

Similarly, in exile, we have not only
rebuilt ourselves but also become a successful and thriving community.
When our grandfathers and grandmothers first arrived in India 60 years
ago, their fate was uncertain and their future unknown. But under the
guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, they re-established themselves.
Shovel by shovel and brick by brick, they built schools, monasteries,
nunneries, and settlements. Families formed communities to sow seeds of
hope in their corn fields. Men and women renewed their skills to weave
carpets and pave a better future for their children.

Through these institutions and
communities, we have managed to restore and revive our language, culture
and most importantly, our identity. The depth of our history,
traditions, spirituality and determination enabled us to transform our
narrative from that of victims to survivors. The strength of our cause
and our ability to efficiently implement development programmes over the
decades have won us continued support and admiration from our friends,
supporters, and aid groups around the globe.

Under His Holiness’ leadership, the
Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) has evolved into a robust democracy
in exile based on the rule of law, gender equality and universal
suffrage. In 2011, His Holiness devolved his political authority to a
democratically-elected leader. The CTA today represents the aspirations
of Tibetans inside Tibet and Tibetans-in-exile scattered over 40
countries around the world. It oversees 71 Tibetan settlements; 276
monasteries and nunneries, 68 schools – having a literacy rate higher
than many countries in South-and Southeast Asia – hospitals, clinics,
and old age homes. All of these institutions and centres cater to the
needs of Tibetan refugees in India, Nepal, and Bhutan. Our thirteen
Offices of Tibet serve as official liaison channels in as many
countries.

However, our success is not confined
to our communities alone. The Tibetan freedom movement has garnered
insurmountable international support with Tibet Support Groups (TSGs) in
54 different countries and 40 countries hosting Parliamentary Support
Groups. Today, Japan hosts the largest All-Party Parliamentary TSG
comprising of 90 members. Similarly, the Czech Parliamentary Group for
Tibet is the largest in Europe with over 50 representatives from both
the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

In 2018, some of the most powerful
Member States at the UN Human Rights Council called upon China to stop
the gross human rights violations in Tibet. We are both inspired and
encouraged by support for Tibet from countries like Australia, Austria,
Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden,
Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States at China’s Third
Cycle of Universal Periodic Review.

Just as importantly, in December last year the United States took an unprecedented step by passing the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act. This bi-partisan law denies
entry to America to Chinese officials deemed responsible for
restricting American officials’ and journalists’ access to Tibet. The
President of the United States further strengthened support for Tibet
with the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act, which
secures special economic support to promote and preserve Tibetan
culture, education, and environmental conservation as well as
sustainable development.

We are aware that the
Chinese government pays only lip service to words like “co-operation”
and “dialogue”. If indeed it earnestly believes that “co-operation can
bring world peace,” it should renew its dialogues
with the envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. As we have stated
repeatedly, the envoys are ready to talk and peacefully resolve the
issue of Tibet through the Middle Way Approach.

Instead of looking to end the 60
years of repression in Tibet, the Chinese government has come out with a
“Zero and 100 strategy.” Under
this new strategy, zero news from international media and exile Tibetans
will be allowed into Tibet and projects 100 percent official propaganda
about Tibet to the outside world and the Tibetan community in exile.
Hence, we must remain vigilant.

The Chinese government assumes that
the issue of Tibet will fade with time. But our experience of over
half-a-century makes us believe otherwise. The young Tibetans in Tibet
experience repression and resistance, whereas, young Tibetans live in
exile and learn about freedom and democracy.

Together, the young
generation in Tibet and in exile are determined in seeking truth and
justice. This new generation of Tibetans is committed to preserving
their unique identity and pursuing their dignity. They are prepared to
carry forward the baton of the struggle until the Tibet issue is
resolved.

Ultimately, it is for the Tibetan people to decide their own
destiny and that of Tibet.

To honour and offer our deep
gratitude for the support we have received for the last 60 years, the
Kashag dedicated 2018 as the “Year of Gratitude.” Accordingly, we began
with “Thank You, India” and ended with “Thank You, America” with
programmes in many other countries in between to express our profound
appreciation to old and new friends of Tibet. I once again want to
convey our sincere thank you to our dear friends in India and all around
the world.

My friends, the tragic case of Tibet
is a stark reminder of how much work is left to be done. Sixty years of
the occupation of Tibet and the repression of Tibetans is far too long.

To ensure that Tibet’s freedom
struggle marches forward, the Kashag today officially declares 2019 as
the “Year of Commitment.” I want to call upon freedom-loving people of
the world to commit to end oppression in Tibet and to commit to fight
against impunity. To Tibetan people everywhere, let us continue our
commitment to struggle for justice. Let us continue to strengthen our
resilience so we can be united with our brothers and sisters in Tibet in
freedom. Let us commit to the return of His Holiness the Great 14th
Dalai Lama to the Potala Palace in Lhasa – where he rightfully belongs.

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The Free Cuba Foundation is an action oriented youth movement committed to defending human rights, support the Cuban internal democratic opposition, and advocate for the principles of Gandhian non-violence.